BK employees fight burglar, stifle Grand Forks crime

Police still are trying to determine the identity of a man they arrested Saturday night during what they said was an attempt to rob a Burger King stifled by employees who fought back and detained the man.

"He's not cooperating," said Sgt. Jason Dvorak Sunday about the man who is in the Grand Forks County jail awaiting court appearances today on attempted robbery, terrorizing and assault charges. "So we booked him in, essentially, as a John Doe." He was later identified as Drew Marvin Smith.

The call came in about 10:11 p.m. Saturday from the Burger King at 1416 S. Washington of a robbery in progress, Dvorak said.

Police found that two Burger King employees had sandwiched the suspect in the store, holding him for officers. The two male employees said the suspect tried to rob the place. No weapon was displayed, Dvorak said. Police arrested him without incident, except he would not give his real name.

The two employees suffered minor injuries from the altercation.

Dvorak said late Sunday night the suspect still hadn't been identified and won't give his name. Instead, the suspect apparently gave the name of a Minnesota man who has spent time in jail there.

Named or not, the man was jailed on a charge of Class B felony robbery, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if he were to be convicted; he also was charged with Class C felony terrorizing, which has a maximum penalty of five years in prison and Class B misdemeanor simple assault, Dvorak said.

He is slated to appear in state district court in Grand Forks today.

It's not clear if the man has been living in Grand Forks, or where he's from, Dvorak said. The man gave jail officials a name and address of a man from northwest Minnesota who is in his early 20s, but that appears to be the identity of another man, Dvorak said late Sunday.

In fact, the name and age given by the suspect in Grand Forks belongs to a northwest Minnesota man who has spent time recently in jail in Crookston and in prison in St. Cloud, Minn., for burglary convictions.

The booking photo of the Minnesota man provided by the regional jail in Crookston appears to be a different man than the Burger King suspect using his name who now is in the Grand Forks jail.